Times Magazine Editor Hugo Lindgren Goes to School

When Hugo Lindgren took over as editor-in-chief of The New York Times Magazine in 2010, publisher Arthur Sulzberger asked whether he was going to keep the magazine’s signature “On Language” column.

“I hope I’m not talking out of school here,” Mr. Lindgren said, recollecting the incident. But in fact, he was talking in a school. He was addressing the magazine program at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.

“Maybe in some way,” Mr. Lindgren hedged at the time.

“I think you should just dump it,” the publisher responded.

Mr. Lindgren told a roomful of journalism students about his adventures reinventing the Sunday insert. The journalism students mostly asked for pitching advice.

Meryl Gordon, the director of the magazine program, asked Mr. Lindgren about running a magazine that is included in the Sunday Times rather than sold separately on a newsstand.

“It was just a write-around on stuff that’s been covered by the New York Post,” said Mr. Lindgren, who said he hasn’t read the story. Mr. Lindgren said he would have put Michael Lewis’ exclusive profile of Barack Obama (a story which made him “fueled with envy”) on the cover – but then again, that’s one of the luxuries of the Times Mag.

Another perk of the NYTM is that the magazine doesn’t have to respond to current events – the paper takes care of that.